For about a week now I have noticed an intermittent dingey damp odor coming through the air vent during outside air circulation. It does not happen every day. It only happens during fresh air circulation when I am starting the car cold. It dissipates after a while. It doees not occur during AC usage. It started after I dropped my car off for some PDR work(paintless dent removal). I called the shop they stated they did not remove any body panels or engine parts. I wonder if it was some type of mold that may have been prevalent in the shop:eek3::dunno
If you shut the car off with the AC running, you'll still have cold air in your ducts. Over time, this will allow a little mold/mildew to grow in there, which you will smell when you first start the car. Whenever I run the A/C, I make of point of switching to just normal vent air as I enter my neighborhood. This blows any cold air out of the ducts before I shut the car off. Not sure if this is the problem or not, but I'd suggest trying it for a bit & see. Entirely possible that the guys working on your car simply ran the AC a bunch & parked it somewhere damp. -Chris!
i'm speaking from memory, but there's a panel style filter for the over-all ventilation of the car. a few other folks here have had to replace it because of oders. i think it's behind the glove box, but again, speaking from memory. it's an allergy style filter so it will filter out particles and they will build up over time. like a hepa-filter for your home's HVAC. or i'm totally talking out of my ass. or maybe you just smell more these days....